San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas May 20 - 25


Up at 0’dark thirty for our flight to San Antonio, via Seattle and Phoenix. Unexpectedly, we received instructions that our citizenship interview and civics test was scheduled for May 21 in San Antonio.

We arrived at the Immigration center and were corralled with about sixty other applicants.

Alan & I were interviewed and tested separately, and both were successful and recommended for naturalization. We were advised that the ceremony was scheduled for Friday, May 24. We were surprised since previously we had been advised that this process should conclude in January 2020. This required some travel plan adjustments to accommodate an extended stay. San Antonio is certainly a much more desirable place than most for an extended visit.

It has been 15 years since we lived in San Antonio and much has changed, while much remains the same. The population has exploded, and traffic is as bad as Austin.

We visited the Pearl District, a recent extension of the famed Riverwalk. Pearl was an operating brewery until the early 2000’s and closed about 2004.

The area has since been revitalized with the stunning Emma Hotel taking over the old brewery, and the surrounding area developed as a walking/retail area, decorated with much of the old brewery equipment. Someone did a fantastic job of preserving the historical integrity.

Our naturalization ceremony was moving and unexpectantly emotional for me. Lee Greenwood’s rendition of God Bless America pushed me over the top.

Prior to the naturalization ceremony, we were informed that we would have to surrender our Green Card, which without a passport, meant that we could not reenter the US after we visited Canada in June & July. This meant that we had to apply for a US passport ASAP. To help us expedite the process, we used Rennert Executive Travel Planners. 


Ain’t nothing comes easy! We needed passport photos and the photographer had dead batteries in the camera. Susann needed several retake photos, so her ears and forehead were clearly displayed. With the approaching Memorial weekend approaching, time was running out. We needed to complete the application so we could simply add our citizen certificate on Friday. When we arrived at Rennert to complete the application, the parking lot and only access to the building was closed off by five fire trucks, several ambulances and numerous police vehicles. Finally, we found a spot to park in the Lexus dealer across the street and scrambled over the wall into the parking lot with access to the building. Life must be easier than this!

A construction crane type vehicle had a malfunction, leaving some poor, frightened workman stranded up above. Hs situation made our trials seem trivial. All ended well with the firemen rescuing him from his precarious situation.

Our day ended with a delicious dinner at Fleming's Steak House. Back to Bellingham tomorrow.

James Island

James Island May 19


Saturday turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. We decided that rather than rush off to Bellingham, we would check and see if there was space available on the James Island as we passed by. Surprise, surprise, there was a spot on the new park dock. 

The current was swirling in all directions as we approached and was very strong as we came alongside the dock. 

We were lucky to get in on our first try. Numerous boats that arrived later encountered more difficulty and required several approaches and the aid of 5 or 6 of us on the dock, tugging on their lines and reeling them in, it was a challenge.

James Island is another beautiful marine park, offering rustic camp sites and beautiful trails with gorgeous vistas.

We awoke shortly after 7am. It was slack tide with almost motionless waters. We decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and cast off the lines and had coffee underway to Bellingham.

Anacortes

Anacortes – May 12 - 18


We arrived in Anacortes a few days ahead of the Anacortes boat show, allowing time to rinse our salt encrusted boat. 


A couple of days later, “Passages” arrived, and we met Bob & Jane from the Pacific North West chapter of MTOA. We enjoyed a great lunch at Anthony’s while getting to know one and other. We would later be joined by two other boats from the PNW chapter.

The Town Crier declared the boat show open on May 16. We spent the next two days helping Jane man the MTOA booth. 
On Thursday evening we hosted a Happy Hour for the MTOA folks aboard “Kaos”. Happy hour turned into four happy hours as we got to know the PNW folks.

Since we needed to depart on Saturday morning, Jane arranged for a group dinner at the 5^th Street Bistro. 

Food and service were excellent, and a good time was enjoyed by all.

Fisherman's Bay, Lopez Island

Fisherman’s Bay, Lopez Island 5/11/2019


We departed Garrison Bay and heading to Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island to anchor for the night. 

Enroute we passed several ferries bound for Friday Harbor.

An interesting fog bank appeared as we neared the end of the San Juan Channel to cross into Fisherman’s Bay. 

The entry was tight, but thankfully, the current was reasonable. We entered at mid tide so that we had depth left in the channel.

The bay is protected with two marinas, numerous private mooring buoys and plenty of room to anchor.

We dinghied ashore and had a great dinner out on the patio at the Lopez Islander Resort. The local clams in a garlic, white wine broth was divine.

Happy Mother’s Day one and all.

Prior to upping anchor, we dinghied back to the Lopez Islander Resort, where Alan treated me to Mother’s Day breakfast. 


As we prepared to depart the boat, I noticed that we had, had a visitor, bearing gifts. 

No, it wasn’t the Easter Bunny, nor the Tooth Fairy and not even the Bird of Paradise! It was the phantom Mother’s Day Bird, who left the remnants of crab legs and claw on the cap rail of the boat, and the other messy remnants of the body etc., strewn all over our dinghy.

After the crab clean-up, I had a fantastic house smoked salmon hash for breakfast. Following breakfast, the weather was dull and cool so we opted to head straight to Anacortes and take some time to wash our salt crusted boat before the boat show.

It was an ebb tide on our departure and the shore was littered with the remains of wrecks from the past that had tried to transit in less than favorable conditions with disastrous outcomes. 

Next stop is Anacortes.

Garrison Bay, San Juan Island

Garrison Bay, San Juan Island near Roche Harbor 5/10/2019


The weather over the past week or so has been spectacular for this time of year. The temperatures have risen steadily to a high of almost 80F today, a heat wave here for this time of year. 

The skies are severe clear and all the locals are in sundresses, tank tops etc. We wimpy Texans are enjoying the warmth but do feel the cool wind coming off the water, especially when in the shade.

Now that's more like it! Fair winds and calm seas as we transit the narrow St John's Pass.

Travel from Stuart Island to Garrison Bay was flat calm all the way.

Today we were advised to anchor in Garrison Bay, just abeam of English Camp where British troops were garrisoned during the 1859 - 72 Pig War. 

The bay had plenty of water at low tide, good holding, well protected and very calm. 

We dinghied into Roche Harbor and enjoyed a great lunch (fantastic fish & chips or Susann) on the patio at Madrona Café, overlooking the marina. 

Roche Harbor was quaint and much smaller than we realized. We were originally booked into the marina for the following 2 nights but decided we had seen what there was to see in an afternoon and at a dockage fee of $120 per night, we opted to just enjoy a tasty lunch.
The waterfront is dominated by the historic Hotel de Haro.

We believe these wooden ladders to be the fire escape from days gone by.

We enjoyed a quiet evening and sunset aboard. As we watched several small, motor-less wooden dinghies with the captain rowing to shore, Alan exclaimed that these sailors were definitely sexist, since they appeared not share the rowing task with their female companion!